Forward Industries (FWDI) & The Competition Financial Contrast

Forward Industries (NASDAQ:FWDI) is one of 345 public companies in the “Financial Services” industry, but how does it contrast to its peers? We will compare Forward Industries to related companies based on the strength of its dividends, earnings, profitability, risk, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership and valuation.

Risk and Volatility

Forward Industries has a beta of 0.88, meaning that its share price is 12% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Forward Industries’ peers have a beta of 2.26, meaning that their average share price is 126% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current ratings and recommmendations for Forward Industries and its peers, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Forward Industries	1	1	3	0	2.40
Forward Industries Competitors	1897	6813	11511	414	2.51

Forward Industries presently has a consensus target price of $8.50, indicating a potential upside of 34.71%. As a group, “Financial Services” companies have a potential upside of 4.15%. Given Forward Industries’ higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Forward Industries is more favorable than its peers.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Forward Industries and its peers gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
Forward Industries	$18.19 million	-$166.97 million	52.58
Forward Industries Competitors	$24.20 billion	$1.07 billion	10.35

Forward Industries’ peers have higher revenue and earnings than Forward Industries. Forward Industries is trading at a higher price-to-earnings ratio than its peers, indicating that it is currently more expensive than other companies in its industry.

Profitability

This table compares Forward Industries and its peers’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Forward Industries	-2,073.82%	-18.05%	-17.03%
Forward Industries Competitors	-405.72%	-21.94%	-5.67%

Insider and Institutional Ownership

43.0% of shares of all “Financial Services” companies are held by institutional investors. 15.9% of Forward Industries shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 21.8% of shares of all “Financial Services” companies are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

Forward Industries peers beat Forward Industries on 9 of the 13 factors compared.

About Forward Industries

Forward Industries, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, designs, markets, and distributes carry and protective solutions primarily for handheld electronic devices. The company operates in three segments: OEM Distribution, Retail Distribution, and Design. The OEM Distribution segment sources and distributes carrying cases and other accessories for medical monitoring and diagnostic kits; and various portable electronic and non-electronic products, such as sporting and recreational products, bar code scanners, GPS devices, tablets, and firearms. The Retail Distribution segment sources and sells smart-enabled furniture and a range of other products through agreements with various retailers, including in stores and online retailer websites. The Design segment provides hardware and software product design and engineering services. The company sells its products to original equipment manufacturers in the Asia-Pacific, the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. Forward Industries, Inc. was incorporated in 1961 and is headquartered in Hauppauge, New York.